Washing machine



g- 1966 I J. BOCHAN I 3,263,814

WASHING MACHINE Filed Jan. 20, 1364 LL INVENTOR L ms ATTORNEY UnitedStates Patent 3,263,814 WASHING MACHINE John Bochan, Louisville, Ky.,assignor to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York FiledJan. 20, 1964, Ser. No. 338,903 3 Claims. (Cl. 210366) This inventionrelates to vertical axis washing machines and more particularly, to alightweight, portable washing machine.

Automatic clothes washing machines have become very successful; however,several problems have been encountered in attemping to adapt automaticclothes washing machines to a lightweight, portable appliance for use byhomemakers having only a limited working area. The conventionalsuspension systems used in the large vertical axis clothes washingmachines are too bulky and too heavy to be readily used in a portablemachine. If the size and weight of the conventional suspension systemsis reduced in order to construct a portable machine which is of anacceptable size and weight, the suspension systems become inadequate andunbalanced loads within the machine caused by the rotating parts of themachine and the load of clothes result in walking of the machine, anddamage to the machine and surrounding objects may occur.

Therefore, an object of this invention is to provide an improvedlightweight portable washing machine which provides both an oscillatorycleaning action and a centrifugal extraction action without subjectingthe machine to excessive unbalanced forces.

Another object of this invention is to provide an improved washingmachine suspension system for use in a lightweight portable washingmachine,-which prevents unbalanced forces created by the rotating partsof the machine from being transmitted to the casing of the machine tothe extent that walking of the machine and damage to the machine or thesurrounding objects may occur. 7

A further more specific object of this invention is to provide alightweight, portable washing machine in which the moving parts areentirely suspended from above in such a manner that easy access to theinterior of the machine is provided while walking of the machine anddamage to the machine and surrounding objects caused by excessiveunbalanced forces within the machine are prevented.

In carrying out the invention, in one form thereof, a washing machine isprovided with an outer tub, and a basket is formed within this tub. Thebasket is suspended within the tub by means of a vertical shaft whichextends upwardly from the base of the basket to the top of the cabinet.A supporting means is attached to a member which extends across anopening in the upper surface of the tub. The supporting means, in itspreferred form, includes a slidable intermediate member provided with anannular upper surface formed as a portion of a sphere, and a movablemember formed as a portion of a sphere and fitting against the uppersurface of the intermediate member. The vertical shaft is attached tothe movable member for supporting the basket. Within the basket thevertical shaft is surrounded by a spaced vertical sleeve to provide acompartment for mounting the driving means of the washer. The uppersurface of the sleeve is preferably adapted to contact the lower surfaceof the supporting means to damp oscillations of the basket.

The features of this invention which are believed to I be novel are setforth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention itself,however, both as to organization and method of operation together withfurther "ice objects and advantages thereof, may best be understood byreference to the following detailed description taken in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view, partly broken away and partly incross-section to show details, of a washing machine in accordance withone embodiment of this invention, and

FIGURE 2 is a top view of the washing machine of FIGURE 1 with the coverremoved for purposes of illustration.

Referring now to FIGURE 1 of the drawings, there is shown therein avertical axis washing machine having a clothes basket 1 formed with anumber of perforations 2. The top of clothes basket 1 is formed as aninwardly extending (flange 3 defining a loading and unloading opening 4.Enclosing the basket 1 is a tub 5 which includes a bottom 6, verticallyextending walls 7, and a cover 8 tiltable on a hinge 9. In the closedposition the cover 8 covers an opening 10 provided to afford access tothe interior of basket 1 so that clothes may be inserted into andremoved from the basket when the cover 8 is pivoted to an open position.The bottom 6 slants to a lowest point 11 which has an opening 11aconnected to a drain conduit 12 for draining the fluid from the tub 5and basket '1. The tub 5 is formed with a number of depending feet suchas 13 and 14 for mounting the machine on a horizontal surface 15. Inorder to supply water to the tub 5 and basket 1, a supply conduit 16 isinserted in an opening 17 in the tub 5 and is adapted to be connected toa conventional water outlet.

A housing 18 is mounted in the center of the opening 10 by means of amember or arm 19 which extends across the opening (as best seen inFIGURE 2). The cover 8 is formed with an opening in its center in orderto fit around the housing when in the closed position. The housing 18includes a horizontal lower wall 20 provided with a central opening 21.An intermediate member 22 is slidably mounted on the wall 20 about thecentral opening and is provided with an annular lower surface 23 whichcontacts the upper surface 24 of horizontal wall 20. The intermediatemember also includes an annular upper surface 25 formed as a portion ofa sphere. Nested within the surface 25 and supported thereby is amovable member 26 having a lower surface 27 formed as a portion of asphere. The movable member 2.6 is biased to a central position by anumber of springs 28 which are connected to the movable member and tothe housing 18.

The basket 1 is suspended from the movable member 26 by means of avertically extending shaft 29 which is connected at its upper end to thecentral portion of movable member 26 and extend downwardly therefrom andis connected at its lower end to the center of basket 1. A hollowcylindrical sleeve 30 is mounted within the basket 1 and extendsupwardly around the shaft 29 to a point above the opening 4. The upperend of the sleeve 30 is formed into an outwardly extending flange 31which is spaced slightly from the bottom of horizontal wall 20 andformed to come into rubbing engagement with wall 20 when the basket 1tilts excessively. The sleeve 30 is radially spaced from the shaft 29 toprovide a chamber to receive a motor and transmission assembly (notshown) which may be energized from a suitable source of power (notshown) through wire 31a.

A number of spaced vanes 32 are formed around the inside of thebasket 1. The motor and transmission assembly is of the conventionaltype used in washing machines and is so constructed that rotation of themotor in one direction causes the basket 1 to oscillate for cleaningclothes within the basket and rotation of the motor in the otherdirection causes the basket to spin in order to centrifuge fluid fromthe clothes.

When the basket oscillates to clean the clothes and spins to centrifugethe liquid from the clothes it is free to tilt in any direction as themovable member 26 slides on the intermediate member 22 and theintermediate member slides on the horizontal wall 20. The springs 28tend to ret-ain'the movable member '26, the intermediate member 22, andthe basket 1 to the central or non-tilted position. Also, the center ofgravity of the basket structure is below the movable member 26 andintermediate member 22; therefore, the weight of the basket, the drivingmeans and the clothes within the basket also tend to retain the basketin a central or non-tilted position. This tilting movement is damped bythe the friction which is provided by the contact between the pair ofsurfaces 23 and 24 and between the pair of surfaces 25 and 27. Theamount of friction which is provided between the surfaces 23 and 24 andbetween the surfaces 25 and 27 is controlled by .the composition of thesurfaces. While materials having widely different coefficients offriction may be employed depending on the amount of damping required, inthe particular embodiment shown the surfaces 23 and 25 are formed ofnylon, which has a relatively low coeflicient of friction, because lowcritical speeds are provided by this type of system The upper surface 24of horizontal wall 20 could be coated rather than surface 23 and thelower surface 27 of movable member 26 could be coated rather than theupper surface 25, or, alternatively all of the surfaces 23, 24, 25, and27 could be coated.

I As a basket 1 spins to centrifuge liquid from the clothes, the dampingafforded by the friction between surfaces 2 3, 24, 25, and 27, takentogether with the tendency of the basket 1 to retain a non-tiltedposition because of the springs 28 and the center of gravity of thebasket are normally suflicient to prevent excessive tilting of thebasket. However, to control the situation if excessive unbalance of thebasket is present (due to a very nonsymmetric distribution of theclothes within the basket), the lower surface of horizontal wall 20 isprovided with a coating of damping material 33 and the upper surface offlange 31 of the sleeve 30 is provided with a coating of dampingmaterial 34. If the basket 1 tilts beyond the acceptable limit, thedamping coatings 33 and 34 come into contact and effectively limit thespeed of rotation of the basket and the amount of tilting. As with thesurfaces 23 and 25 the particular damping material used may vary fromthe very high coefficient of friction to a very low coefficient offriction, depending upon the damping required or desired.

This system provides for tilting of the basket in all directions.Additionally, since the basket and driving means are suspended entirelyfrom 'above by means of the vertically extending shaft 29, the center ofgravity of the mechanism is always below the movable member and thebasket tends to return to a central or non-tilted position.

If it is desired to use less water in the washing operation, the basket1 can be made imperforate except for a single row of openings adjacentthe flange 3 (this being a well known alternative basket structure) andthe supply conduit 16 could be positioned to discharge directly into thebasket. With such an arrangement, only the basket would be filled withwater to any desired level. When the basket spins the centrifugal forcewould cause the water to flow out through the single row of openingsinto the tub from which it would drain through the drain conduit 12.

' Thus, while in accordance with the patent statutes, what at present isconsidered to be the preferred embodiment of this invention has beendescribed, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that variouschanges and modifications may be made therein Without departing from theinvention and I, therefore, aim in the appended claims to cover all suchchanges andmodifications as are within the true spirit and scope ofthisinvention.

i What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of theUnited States is:

1. A vertical axis washing machine comprising: (a) an outer tub,

(I) said outer tub having an opening in the top thereof for access to.the interior of said tub,

(2) a member extending across said opening,

(b) support means mounted on said member,

( 1) said support means including a horizontal wall,

(2) said support means also including an intermediate having a flatlower surface slidably contacting the upper surface of saidhorizontalwall,

(3) said intermediate member also having an annular upper surface formedas a portion of a sphere,

(4) said support means also including a movable member having a lowersurface formed as -a portion of a sphere,

(5) said lower surface of said movable member slidably contacting saidupper surface of said intermediate member,

(0) a clothes basket having a top opening,

(1) said basket including a central shaft extending through said baskettop opening,

(2) said shaft being connected to said movable member for suspendingsaid basket within said outer tub from said support means,

(3) said basket also including a sleeve coxial with and spaced from saidshaft,

(4) said sleeve having anupper surface arranged for rubbing engagementwith the lower surface of said horizontal wall after a predeterminedtilting movement of said basket to thereby limit tilting movement ofsaid basket,

(d) said support means providing the sole support for said basket.

2. A vertical axis washing machine comprising:

(a) an outer tub,

(1) said outer tub having an opening in the top thereof for the accessto the interior of said tub,

(2) a member extending across said opening,

(b) support means mounted on said member,

(1) said support means including a housing having a horizontal lowerwall,

(2) said lower wall having a central opening therethrough,

(3) the lower surface of said wall having a coating of damping materialthereon,

(4) said support means also including an intermediate member slidablymounted on said lower wall around said central opening,

(5) said intermediate member having a lower surface coated with adamping material and contacting the upper surface of said wall,

(6) said intermediate member also having an annular upper surface formedas a portion af a sphere and coated with a damping material,

(7) said support means also including a movable member disposed abovesaid opening in said lower wall,

(8) said movable member having a lower surface formed as a portion of asphere,

(9) said lower surface of said movable member contacting said beingsupported on said upper surface of said intermediate member,

(10) said support means further including a biasing means connectingsaid movable member to said housing to urge said movable member to acentral position,

(c) a clothes basket having a top opening,

(1) said basket including a central shaft extending through said baskettop opening,

(2) said shaft being connected to said movable member for suspendingsaid basket from said support means,

(3) said basket also including a sleeve coaxial with said spaced fromsaid shaft,

(4) said sleeve having an upper surface coated with a damping materialto contact said damping material on said lower surface of said lowerwall,

(5) said last named surfaces being arranged for engagement after apredetermined tilting movement of said basket to thereby limit tiltingmovement of said basket.

(d) said support means providing the sole support for said basket.

3. A vertical axis washing machine comprising:

(a) an outer tub,

(1) said outer tub having an opening in the to thereof for access to theinterior of said tub,

(2) a member extending across said opening,

(b) support means mounted on said member,

(1) said support means including a horizontal wall,

(2) said support means also including an intermediate member having aflat lower surface slidably contacting the upper surface of saidhorizontal wall,

(3) said intermediate member also having an upper surface formed as aportion of a sphere,

(4) said support means also including a movable member having a lowersurface formed as a portion of a sphere,

(5) said lower surface of said movable member slidably contacting saidupper surface of said intermediate member,

(c) a clothes basket having a top opening,

(1) said basket including a central shaft extending through said baskettop opening,

(2) said shaft being connected to said movable member for suspendingsaid basket within said outer tub from said support means,

(d) said basket including an upper surface,

(c) said basket upper surface and a lower surface of said horizontalwall being arranged for rubbing engagement after a predetermined tiltingmovement of said basket to thereby limit tilting movement of saidbasket.

(f) said support means providing the sole support for said basket.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,782,264 11/1930Green 210-366 2,539,533 1/1951 Douglas 68-23 X 3,026,700 3/1962 Bochanet a1. 6823 3,026,701 3/1962 Houser 68-23 3,078,035 2/1963 Bruenig210366 X REUBEN FRIEDMAN, Primary Examiner.

I. DE CESARE, Assistant Examiner.

1. A VERTICAL AXIS WASHING MACHINE COMPRISING: (A) AN OUTER TUB, (1)SAID OUTER TUB HAVING AN OPENING IN THE TOP THEREOF FOR ACCESS TO THEINTERIOR OF SAID TUB, (2) A MEMBER EXTENDING ACROSS SAID OPENING, (B)SUPPORT MEANS MOUNTED ON SAID MEMBER, (1) SAID SUPPORT MEANS INCLUDING AHORIZONTAL WALL, (2) SAID SUPPORT MEANS ALSO INCLUDING AN INTERMEDIATEHAVING A FLAT LOWER SURFACE SLIDABLY CONTACTING THE UPPER SURFACE OFSAID HORIZONTAL WALL, (3) SAID INTERMEDIATE MEMBER ALSO HAVING ANANNULAR UPPER SURFACE FORMED AS A PORTION OF A SPHERE, (4) SAID SUPPORTMEANS ALSO INCLUDING A MOVABLE MEMBER HAVING A LOWER SURFACE FORMED AS APORTION OF A SPHERE, (5) SAID LOWER SURFACE OF SAID MOVABLE MEMBERSLIDABLY CONTACTING SAID UPPER SURFACE OF SAID INTERMEDIATE MEMBER, (C)A CLOTHES BASKET HAVING A TOP OPENING, (1) SAID BASKET INCLUDING ACENTRAL SHAFT EXTENDING THROUGH SAID BASKET TOP OPENING, (2) SAID SHAFTBEING CONNECTED TO SAID MOVABLE MEMBER FOR SUSPENDING SAID BASKET WITHINSAID OUTER TUB FROM SAID SUPPORT MEANS, (3) SAID BASKET ALSO INCLUDING ASLEEVE COXIAL WITH AND SPACED FROM SAID SHAFT, (4) SAID SLEEVE HAVING ANUPPER SURFACE ARRANGED FOR RUBBING ENGAGEMENT WITH A LOWER SURFACE OFSAID HORIZONTAL WALL AFTER A PREDETERMINED TILTING MOVEMENT OF SAIDBASKET TO THEREBY LIMIT TILTING MOVEMENT OF SAID BASKET, (D) SAIDSUPPORT MEANS PROVIDING THE SOLE SUPPORT FOR SAID BASKET.